A3 1.5 tsi - timing belt change

[Easternlight]

stevemcs said:

I've not looked at the 1.5 but some of the modern engines are horrific when it comes to belt changes, the Ford ecoboost as an example gives a book time of 9 hours.

It's a "wet" belt it runs inside the engine in the oil there's also another smaller belt driving the oil pump.
9 years or 90k miles but makes a mess of £2k

[Easternlight]

Whataguy said:

Apparently this week it's been announced that the UK is dropping the 5 year requirement and following the European guidelines.

I wonder if cambelt failures are covered under VWs/Audis extended warranty?

If so, then it's £1k saved.

Does this apply to Skoda? They have been pestering me for a year now to have my belt done on my 1.2 Yeti as it turned 5 last year but it's only on 32k miles.
Quoted £500 for the job, local garage £230.

[Whataguy]

I'd heard all vw group - apparently the change interval is now only miles based.
Seems very high, but my car will be under extended warranty while I own it.

So any failures would appear to be on them as I am following the manufacturers new recommendation.

That's £960 saved for my 1.5tsi.

I've heard the new limits are now:

180k miles or 15 years for petrol

120k or 10 years for diesel

Your dealer should be able to confirm, a notice to dealers went out last week.

Edited by Whataguy on Saturday 8th July 11:19

[Sheepshanks]

stevemcs said:

Why not say every 100k ? I think 10 years/100k is acceptable on a belt driven engine - unless 2.0 tdi VW engine.

There's two people on a Tiguan forum just now with TDi's who've had the belt (or something related) go at just under 5yrs. Oddly different treatment - one has had the vast majority of the bill covered by VW and the other has been told he needs a new engine and asked for £10K.

[IJWS15]

Sheepshanks said:

There's two people on a Tiguan forum just now with TDi's who've had the belt (or something related) go at just under 5yrs. Oddly different treatment - one has had the vast majority of the bill covered by VW and the other has been told he needs a new engine and asked for £10K.

Perhaps one has a full VW service history and the other doesn’t.

Daughter finally made up her mind to get it done but not by the dealer, butI haven’t had time to book it in for her. Seeing her today and will ask her to call the dealer to see if the have relaxed the requirement.

[stevemcs]

IJWS15 said:

Perhaps one has a full VW service history and the other doesn’t.

Daughter finally made up her mind to get it done but not by the dealer, butI haven’t had time to book it in for her. Seeing her today and will ask her to call the dealer to see if the have relaxed the requirement.

That really shouldn’t make a difference when it comes to a timing belt, if it breaks before the interval vw should cover it. The ones we have seen have always been around the change point. It seems to be the ones with the switchable coolant pump that fail.

[Sheepshanks]

IJWS15 said:

Perhaps one has a full VW service history and the other doesn’t.

Daughter finally made up her mind to get it done but not by the dealer, butI haven’t had time to book it in for her. Seeing her today and will ask her to call the dealer to see if the have relaxed the requirement.

Both Tiguans have full history and very similar mileages.

I reckon a lot of it is up to the dealer and how much they push it with VW. Mine said they've had to push a couple of times on our car for suspension bushes cracking and rear shocks leaking and they're never sure if they'll get OK'd or not.


Does the Audi still need its cambelt changing? I don't know if there's a build date from when it applies. My current thinking is to follow VW Groups latest advice and not have the belt changed on daughter's Ateca, which has done around 60K. I will get her to renew the "All In" cover though.

[stevemcs]

Knackered shocks is a typical vag issue, even on cars 2 years old. Brake calipers on mk5/6 golf chassis was also an issue and we are starting to see that on the newer mk7 with the electric handbrake

[Terzo123]

Interesting.

My wife's Seat Leon has the 1.4 ACT engine. We've had the car for almost 6 years now, and it's approaching 8 years old with under 60k on the clock.

I've debated getting the timing belt changed for a while now, as Seat UK quoted 5 years or 60k miles. In Europe however for the same engine it was 10 years and 120k. I was confident i wasn't taking too much of a risk, but it always played in the back of my head, and I was considering getting it done once the car hit 60k.

I might not bother getting it done now.

[Sheepshanks]

The bit missing from the response I got from SEAT UK (posted on previous page) was what the mileage interval is. They came back to me today and said:

SEAT UK: the mileage interval is 180 000 mileages.

I haven't got the heart to go back yet again and ask what unit a "mileages" is.

This was against a question on our 1.0TSi.


I did see someone on the SEAT Ateca forum was told by his dealer last year that the belt in his 1.4TSI didn't need changing ever and has an inspection at 300,000kms (which fits ish with 180K miles) or 15 years.

[Whataguy]

The VW dealer in the UK that replied to someone online about theirs said 180,000 miles.

[VR99]

Whataguy said:

Apparently this week it's been announced that the UK is dropping the 5 year requirement and following the European guidelines.

I wonder if cambelt failures are covered under VWs/Audis extended warranty?

If so, then it's £1k saved.

This is very timely for me as recently been quoted over £1k for timing belt change (hoping this is one and the same as cambelt but if not please correct me!). I paid for an extended 2 year warranty and service package for my 2018 1.4 TSI (125) so don't want to risk invalidating the warranty by not getting it done and then having issues.

I will speak to my local maindealer who I use for servicing as they have recently flagged the timing belt as 'red' since my car is 5 years old ...yet below 30k mileage.

Really need this clarified....ideally if I can save £1k every 5 years great but if a worse case scenario transpires e.g: snapped belt don't want the headache of VW saying FRO when asking for goodwill towards the repair cost. The VW technician mentioned a £10k bill if the engine was to go kaput due to the belt .

Edited by VR99 on Wednesday 19th July 14:11

[VR99]

Just as a follow-up to my last post, VW UK have confirmed in writing the following:

'The cambelt guidance has been updated to remove the five-year interval on all cars across the Volkswagen Group. The cambelt replacement will now be based on mileage'

They weren't able to confirm the mileage but I'm not massively bothered as of now ..that's a imminent £1k hit averted for now!

Not sure what it means for my warranty....but hopefully I won't need to find out!

[Whataguy]

VR99 said:

Not sure what it means for my warranty....but hopefully I won't need to find out!

I have the VW extended warranty, most are probably the same that only cover you provided you follow the manufacturers recommended belt change interval.

As there is no 5 year age limit now, I'll be covered until the warranty runs out, saving £1k

[VR99]

Whataguy said:

VR99 said:

Not sure what it means for my warranty....but hopefully I won't need to find out!

I have the VW extended warranty, most are probably the same that only cover you provided you follow the manufacturers recommended belt change interval.

As there is no 5 year age limit now, I'll be covered until the warranty runs out, saving £1k

Yep and timing of this couldn't of been any better! It was only on 3 July I was told the belt is due and it's a smidge over £1k purely based on the 5 year rule......

[N.A.R.T Spyder]

Hadn't read this thread so with my A5 coming up to 5 years old I rang my local Audi dealer (Watford) and they informed me that it's now 140k miles not 5 years. Saved me £765.

[Bobupndown]

We have a 2013 Tdi Tiguan. It had its timing belt and waterpump done at 100k miles. It's now done 174k. By the new guidance it won't be due another until 240k miles?

[va1o]

Bobupndown said:

We have a 2013 Tdi Tiguan. It had its timing belt and waterpump done at 100k miles. It's now done 174k. By the new guidance it won't be due another until 240k miles?

No as this thread relates to the TSI and not TDI

[Sheepshanks]

Bobupndown said:

We have a 2013 Tdi Tiguan. It had its timing belt and waterpump done at 100k miles. It's now done 174k. By the new guidance it won't be due another until 240k miles?

You always seem to get various numbers bandied around, but on on our TDi, which is the later EA288 engine (yours will EA189) VW Gernamy told me 210,00kms, which is 130K miles.

That said, it may be the new recommendations only applies to newer vehicles, and there's a body of opinion that the diesels, particualrly, should still be changed at earlier time and distance than the new mileage only recommendation.

I suppose it depends on whether you're going to lie awake worrying about it.